An honest answer would be that fracking had been going on for over half a decade.

The technique of hydraulic fracturing is used to extract gas from shale rocks. It is also commonly used to extract methane from coal beds.

The new document gives a detailed breakdown of drilling, then fracking, activities at Airth six years ago. In Appendix 1 “The Drilling and Stimulation program”, a frack is shown in action as the chemicals and water are injected (“pump stimulation”) and then held underground (“Shut in for 30 minutes monitor pressure”): see #012 & #013 on p23.

“Stimulation” – is a widely-used industry euphemism for fracking – is openly used throughout the document as the then-owner of the site details it’s well plan for the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC)

If the Department of Energy and Climate Change knows, it’s not saying. Freedom of Information requests on the subject have been continually rebuffed. So we are left with P18 of the new document which appears to show an air/foam fracking mix – what’s in the foam is unknown.

Issues also arise around the water contamination. No-one has provided a baseline survey of water quality at Airth, therefore it’s impossible to say whether any chemicals found in the water table are due to the gas industry. A convenient situation for a driller to be in.